The Smithsonian Grapples With a Modern Conundrum: How to Engage New Audiences

As ethnic demographics change in the United States, museums struggle to engage.

Greater Nicoya female figure AD 800–1350. Pottery, clay slip, paint. National Museum of the American Indian

NEW YORK—The National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian Institution, has launched its first major bilingual exhibit in New York, one that will test the institution’s will to engage with wider audiences.

An ambitious project, Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed contains over 130 exquisite ceramics and other artifacts that illustrate life, power, and ritual in the indigenous societies of what today are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

Every bit of wall has text in both English and Spanish in a bid to increase engagement with Spanish-speaking audiences.